


To the Order of Princess Luna

by KataraTakaran



Series: In the Name of the Moon [1]
Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 'gentle' persuasion, (for the mlp verse anywas), Dehumanization, Everyone has pony names, Future Fic, Gen, Ill put them in the notes, Prologue - S1E1, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-21 17:10:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11948838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KataraTakaran/pseuds/KataraTakaran
Summary: Princess Luna, wanting nothing more than to share her night sky, started an academy in the Apploosan Desert. The Starlit Academy, once established, began Equestria's space-race. After dozens of expeditions to the Moon, each successful, she and her students feel confident that they can manage a deep-space venture.They got all the way out to Kerberos.





	1. To the Order of Princess Luna

“So, my Starlit Starlet,” Princess Luna smiled down at him softly, “you and your crew are to greet the stars themselves tomorrow.” She walked beside him with easy familiarity as they travelled through the Canterlot halls.

“Yes.” He nodded softly. “We are set to tread where nopony has ever before.”

“You’re nervous.” She chuckled. “Do not be. The night sky awaits, little one. You have studied and watched and befriended it for far too long for it to turn on you.”

“I know.” He paused on his next step, then leaned into her shoulder. “I’m going to miss you.”

“And I, you, Silverwing.” She paused as well, to hug him in return. Once they’d continued walking down the hall, she continued. “But do not fret. I shall have contact with you through your entire voyage.”

“How so? There isn’t to be a dragon aboard, not with that much pressurized oxygen.”

“You will see, Silverwing.” Her smile became a mischievous grin. “For now, we’ve arrived at your quarters. Rest well, and return refreshed with the dawn. Your journey is to begin as the moon’s ends.”

“As you wish, Princess.” Silverwing pulled away reluctantly. But sleep came quickly, and his dreams were sweet and calming.

* * *

The sun was just cresting over the horizon when Silverwing landed next to the designated dais. Behind him, the sun was slowly unveiling the new rocket ship to the gathering reporters. It was pale as the moon itself. Someone had been busy in the night since he’d seen it last, and it was now painted with a likeness of the Tree of Harmony.

He joined the Lemonades atop the dais. once Pink Lemonade had finished taking her pictures. Kiwi Lemonade greeted him brightly, in a clatter of hooves. He was quickly swept into a fresh round of photographs. His mother didn’t miss the opportunity, swooping out of the clouds to snap a few of her own. The reporters were no longer the only part of the growing crowd. Onlookers of every pony race stared up at them with wide eyes.

Eventually, the families were ushered off into the crowd. They still got front-row, though, without contest. Silverwing and the Lemonades were shooed off to get dressed about the same time. Their spacesuits were in Princess Luna’s navies and blues, with their cutie marks emblazoned on the flanks in black. They were then marched back out onto the dais, helmets snug in the crooks of their forelegs.

Silverwing stood tall on the far right of the formation. Blackberry Lemonade vibrated with barely contained excitement beside him, and Mint Lemonade was very comfortable in the far left position.

“This is it-” Blackberry stage-whispered. “This is it, we’re going to space-”

“It is.” He had no qualms agreeing. His flight feathers were starting to quiver with matching nerves & excitement.

“Shh,” Mint chided warmly, tipping his nose to the sky. The four Princesses of Equestria were on the approach.

They landed in order of age, Celestia and Luna, then Cadance and Twilight Sparkle. The youngest two flanked Celestia, as Luna stepped forward with her head held high. Twilight was carrying a cushion covered with a navy-blue sheet that shone like silk. Medals perhaps?

Silverwing wasn’t sure, but Princess Luna turned to the crowd once she’d taken centre-stage.

“Today, Ponykind is to discover a new frontier.” She began. Her Canterlot Voice silenced the crowd, ringing clear and true for all to hear. “The Stars have watched over us all since the days of Chaos, and even before; they are ever-present, if not always visible in the Glory of the Day. Today, we send our own to not only greet them, but also to walk among them.”

The crowd cheered when she paused. When they’d quieted again, she continued.

“Many long moons have seen the ship before us come to reality. Every hoof in Equestria, both directly and indirectly, has helped bring this project to fruitation. For this, I thank each and every one of you, from Farmer to Metalworker, Student to Scholar, Intern to Scientist, for bringing us to Today. For bringing The Harmony to life.”

Ah, so the ship had been christened The Harmony. The paint-job made sense now.

“Of Equestria’s many Brave and Talented Starlit, only three could be chosen for this voyage. These three stand before you now, elected by peer and superiors, and tried innumerably, to be found exemplary. These three ponies will be the first to walk into the great unknowns of the Universe.

“Commander Mint Lemonade, of Starlit Academy’s First Class. He has led dozens of expeditions to our own Moon, each successful, each bringing us new knowledge of our celestial neighbour, and our Universe.

“Doctor Blackberry Lemonade, Microbiologist and Cryogenic Specialist. He will be the pony in charge of studying any and all points of interest during the voyage.

“And Captain Silverwing, Progedial Pilot of Starlit Academy’s 20th class, the pony in charge of flying The Harmony through the course of the voyage.”

She paused again to allow for cheering. But before anyone could turn to questions, Princess Twilight stepped forward. The cover on the cushion whipped off with a practiced flourish. Underneath was a silvery necklace, centered with a gleaming obsidian stone. The stone was offset from the center vertically, cutting a V from the silver.

“On this voyage, you three may encounter peoples yet undiscovered.” Princess Luna continued. “You may be required to represent our race, as a point of First Contact. For this, we would send a fourth crewmate. Unfortunately, the Harmony can only support three for any extended length of time. We, as Princesses, have discussed this at length.

“We have decided that you, Silverwing, as my Protégé, would be best suited to this task. So, by the power vested in me, I do hereby name you Prince Silverwing, Ambassador of Harmony and All Ponykind.”

She raised the necklace from its cushion, and hung it over Silverwing’s neck. It settled into position perfectly.

* * *

“Princess!” Silverwing galloped through the scientists running their final redundancies. A couple yelled at him to slow down, but most just laughed. Princess Luna was overseeing the mapping process on the far side of the room. “Princess-”

“Yes, Prince Silverwing?” She grinned, leaning to hug him when he drew near enough.

“What- I- a Prince?!”

“I considered some of the other titles,” She waved off, “But Prince sounded the best. Earl, Baron, Duke, Marquise, not one of them suited.”

“Ambassador?”

“Mm,” She didn’t care for that one either. She waved it off with a casual hoof. “Digressing, your necklace.”

Silverwing glanced down. It still sparkled about his neck. “What about it?”

“Just that I spelled it with about 60 different workings, and Cadance selected it herself from the Crystal Kingdom’s treasury.” Princess Twilight appeared beside him in a flash of light. Her assistant handed him a tightly bound scroll with a grin. “I had Spike write down each one and how to work it as I did, so this is your complete guide, I put about 4 more in the stock for the ship in case you loose it. You should really have a Unicorn on this voyage, but that’s not my call to make, even if it did mean I had to spell the gem to work with Pegasus and Earth Pony magic alone.”

“And we both thank you for all your hard work, Twilight.” Princess Luna was hiding laughter. “May I have a few words with my student?”

“But I wanted to go through this all with him! You didn’t leave any time for that between the conference and the launch!”

“If it helps at all, your Highness.” Silverwing interrupted gently, “I will have a great amount of time to look it over in coming days. If I have any concerns, I shall contact you.”

“Ugh, fine.” She bounded off to help/interfere with the preparations.

Princess Luna shook her head after the youngest Princess, then stepped towards the entrance of the ship. “Come, Starlet.”

“Your Highness.” He trotted after her.

The interior was bright and clean, ready. It had been vacated of scientists already. Princess Luna settled next to the cargo bay. Silverwing stood beside her expectantly.

“Your trip will be long.” She touched the sleek wall.

“You… said I will have a way to contact you through it, though, right?” She nodded.

“You’re wearing it.” Was the simple answer. “One of the stone’s many functions is to allow you to send verbal letters. I expect them regularly.”

“The instructions are all here?” He tilted the scroll he’d tucked under a wing.

“All. And likely deeply explained knowing my sister’s Protégé.” Silverwing nodded in understanding.

“… Everything will go well, Princess.” He touched her foreleg gently. “As you said, the night sky is our friend. We shall come to no harm.”

“Yes.” She agreed. She stood, confidence renewed. “Prince Silverwing, do us proud.”

“I will.” He bowed neatly. She left him then, as the scientists called a ten minute warning.

* * *

“To the order of Princess Luna,” The young stallion’s voice was as clear as it had always been. He sat, prim and proper, at attention. The silvery forelock of his mane fell between his eyes, betraying his excitement to contact her. There was a shine in his eyes that could only be labelled as glee.

“We have arrived to the edge of the visible solar system,” He drew down the map as they’d observed it, “and we’ve discovered more planets on the horizon. The one we’ve landed on we have tentatively called Pluto, waiting on your discretion of course, and about it are 5 moons. Terrein seems to be the only one in the system to with one!

“Once we have gathered samples of Pluto, we’ll do the same for it’s moons. At that point, we will likely have to return to Terrein. The ship is getting a little full. Mint and Blackberry are very... thorough, gathering the samples. And they’re missing their family. And they tell me that I should leave _some_ system exploring for the next trip. For the next team.” Silverwing stopped then, a sheepish grin blossoming.

“I don’t wanna. I’d like to bring you the entire universe. But it’s so big. The stars? They’re other suns. Other suns, with other planets. Systems we can’t even see, because they’re too far. I want to put all of this in your hooves. I want to show you them. A grand tour.

“But realistically, you can expect us home in about 6 more moons. 6 more moons, and the scientists of Equestria can have a heyday with our innumerable extraterrestrial ice samples.”

“Sincerely; Prince Silverwing, Ambassador of Harmony.”

* * *

“To the order of Princess Luna;”

“Of the five moons we saw from Pluto, two are now catalogued. Mint is very happy you’ve approved the name Pluto. He and Blackberry have spent the last week arguing whether Pluto is an actual Planet, or if it would be more accurately labelled as a planetoid, as it is technically smaller than our own Moon.

“The Moons of Pluto have been named in accordance with their parent planet; Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra. From Styx, our current landing point, we can see that Pluto has a cutie-mark. It’s a heart, and it’s adorable. Blackberry took many pictures. Tried to make us go back to collect more samples. We shall see. Tomorrow we land on Nix, and then Kerberos, and finally Hydra.

“At that point, if there is room, additional samples of Pluto will be taken. We shall keep you updated.

Sincerely, Prince Silverwing, Ambassador of Harmony.”

* * *

“To the Order of Princess Luna;

“There were issues trying to core Nix. Several boring tools were broken in trying to breach the ice. I’m not blaming the 600 million samples aboard the ship but I’m blaming the 600 million samples aboard the ship. Depending on tomorrow’s landing on Kerberos, we may or may not be able to core Hydra, nevermind re-core Pluto. Regardless, our trip is coming to a close either way.

“We’re so far out.” His voice turned melancholy. “We’re almost 500 billion miles from home. And there’s so much left to explore. So much more left to see. We can barely even see the sun from here. We have to use lights for every action, because not enough light reaches the planet’s surface to see well. And it just gets deeper and darker from here.”

He paused, staring out the window. The stars were the same pinpoints of light that shone in the night sky on Terrein. They weren’t any closer. Not even a little.

“The bores breaking on Nix. We still have enough… but… something tells me it’s time to turn around. That it’s a sign. I’m not afraid of the dark. I’m a pony made for the night. But…”

He sighed. “I’ve never been superstitious. I’d do well to not start now. Sincerely; Prince Silverwing, Ambassador of Harmony.”

* * *

That was the last missive her student sent her.

A week later, the necklace she’d given him reappeared in a sudden burst of light. There was nothing with it. The stars had turned on her student, and swallowed him, his crew, and his ship whole.


	2. To the Order of Emperor Zarkon

They’d been coring with the final set of boring tools. Silvering had been, yet again, roped into helping remove the sample, as Mint and Blackberry began moving it into the storage unit. They were moving slower than usual, being careful with their last set of equipment. Silver’s forehooves were getting tired, but the Lemonades were just getting excited.

“This could be it – the one that holds clues to extraterrestrial life! It could hold the secrets of the very universe!” Blackberry’s awestruck tone showed no sign of having repeated himself over every sample they’d gathered over the course of the trip.

Mint chuckled warmly over his son’s enthusiasm. “It could be my entire life’s work, finally seeing fruit.”

“I _know_!” Blackberry breathed, starry eyed. “Right Silver?”

“Aha, I’m not even going to pretend to like ice anymore. Now stars? That’s my language~”

“He just doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation.” Mint sighed. “Careful, careful, don’t drop it!”

Silver carefully switched to his wings, letting his hooves rest from the ice holding. “I’ll have you know that I know more about gravity than either of you could even comprehend! Not understand the gravity situation, my left what is that-?”

“Most call them testicles, dear boy.” Mint couldn’t help a grin.

“No, that.” His hoof directed their gazes to something massive and purple, and angular... and very, very alien.

“Oh, that? That’s... a...”

“Aliens.” Blackberry whispered, as his father went slack jawed.

Something sparked on the crest of the ship. The creeping dread that had plagued him since Nix turned into blind terror in the pit of his stomach. “Get to the ship.”

“What?” Blackberry blinked free of his shock.

“Forget this, get back to the ship, get back to the ship now!” Silvering dropped the ice to grab the Lemonades, charging away from the alien ship for the much, much smaller Harmony.

There was a splitting roar not unlike a sonic boom. It shook the ground as they galloped at a mad speed. A cursory glance backwardss showed the ship issuing a massive, violent purple beam, which tore up the ground as it sucked everything in its path into the ship.

“Faster, _FASTER_!” Silverwing was hopeful – The Harmony sat on the horizon now. His hooves pounded, keeping traction on the ice. And then made no noise at all, as something grabbed him by the tail and _yanked_. A clod of ice clobbered him in the head, cracking the glass of his helmet, and the last thing he saw was Blackberry frantically continuing to run even as he too was sucked up into the alien spaceship.

* * *

“Emperor Zarkon;” A gruff voice roused him from unconsciousness. “We were scouting System X-9-Y when we discovered an unattended primitive space vessel, as well as several abandoned beasts of burden.”

“It is likely a rebel vehicle, one that had to be dropped to escape.” Two aliens, one massive and purple, the other tremendous and purple (everything was purple, really), stood in conversation. No, wait, the larger wasn’t real. Just an image on a screen, not unlike the verbal letters he’d been sending. “Search the system, flush them out.”

“At once Sire,” The smaller one bowed, “Vrepi-”

“Excuse me-” Silverwing called, though his head throbbed at the noise of his words. “Excuse me, but we’re just simple explorers and scientists. We come in Peace.”

“You said they were beasts of burden.” The Emperor’s tone was terrifying.

“The other two did not speak.”

“I am Prince Silverwing, of Planet Terrein. I am an ambassador for my people. Perhaps we can come to an agreement if we’ve accidentally trespassed or committed some other faux pas?”

“... Transport these creatures back to the main fleet for interrogation. Perhaps they will know something useful.” The screen flashed black a second later. The smaller alien turned to glare at him when he was done saluting his leader.

“We would just like to go home.” Silverwing pleaded. The alien had a nasty expression. Something came flying out of is blind spot, and collided with his head. He was out a bare second later.

When he came to again, he was being dragged down the hall. Outside massive windows, thousands of cells were visible.

The dread and fear curdled in his stomach.

* * *

“Doctor, we have a new species to catalogue.” The underling emptied three quadrupedal beasts into a nearby holding cell. “Maybe two? The dark one has more limbs.”

“Limb dimorphism is hardly unknown.” He opened an application with a claw. “Strip them.”

A droid held them steady as they were pulled free of their primitive, bulky flight suits. The aliens looked like the stocky transport and cargo animals so often found planetside. The doctor frowned as something silvery was pulled off the black beast.

“What is that?”

“Looks like jewelery, sir.” It was held aloft, displaying the shape.

“Contain it. The witch will have my head if something explodes down here again.” He shooed the officer off, approaching the beasts. The dark one seemed to be out cold – multiple head wounds – but the green and pink were very much awake and aware.

Two sets of golden eyes stared at him. The green beast seemed to be shaking on its hooves, though it stood over the pink beast protectively. It seemed to want to do the same for its fallen companion.

At least they weren’t whining about the nudity.

“I am less likely to hurt your children if you cooperate quietly.” He informed the green.

“We will;” Mint agreed at once. “Might I have my glasses back, though? I need them to see.” He couldn’t tell if Blackberry was shaking because he was scared, or if he was just excited. Hopefully he’d have the sense to _not_ toe the very, very thin ice they stood on.

The doctor reached into the pile, and plucked them from near the top. “They will not be replaced,” he warned.

“Thank you, I understand.” Mint accepted them gratefully. In lacking any form of prehensile digit or limb, they used their mouths. The doctor made a note for himself.

“I am going to ask some questions. You will answer truthfully and to the fullest extent, though I require no personal information. You are Prisoner 117-9873. The pink one is 117-9874. And this one is 117-9875. I will be addressing you by these serial codes.”

“I understand.”

“And if required, you will address me as Doctor or Sir.” 117-9873 noded. “Excellent. 117-9875’s collar. What purpose does it serve?”

“It marks Silverwing as an Ambassador of our people.”

“Do all higher ranking bear wings?”

“Yes and no. There are three equal classes that bear a different feature, and a fourth, higher class that bears all three features. We are all of the lower class.”

“Are there any other beings, sentient or no, remaining on your craft?”

“No, just the three of us, that I’m aware of.”

The doctor’s questions continued in that manner. Planet of Origin, Species Name(s), Ruler(s), population, purpose off planet, required water and air levels. After, each of them was scanned and suited in tight pressure suits and ragged overshirts. Silverwing roused in time to be clipped and shaved.

Then they were hobbled together, and marched off.

**Author's Note:**

> Takashi Shirogane - (Prince) Silverwing  
> Samuel Holt - Mint Lemonade  
> Matt Holt - Blackberry Lemonade  
> Colleen Holt - Pink Lemonade  
> Katie Holt - Kiwi Lemonade
> 
> ( Designs can be found [ Here](http://www.theponydins.tumblr.com) )


End file.
